Muy Caliente! E10 for MacLeod

Dave MacLeod made his first ever visit to Pembrokeshire last week and came away with the third ascent of Tim Emmett's Muy Caliente! (E10 6c) in Stennis Ford, as well as a repeat of The Brothers Karamazov at St. Govans, linking the E8 and E7 pitches together to give a long and pumpy E9.

MacLeod has written a detailed blog report of his activities, in which he comments on Muy Caliente!:

"I think Linford Christie would struggle to prevent a boulder splat from 50 feet up if you fell off the end of the runout. Tim's lead attempts despite not having linked it on a top rope are an exemplar of taking it right to the limit. A fine effort of boldness. I linked it second go and still felt it was a serious proposition, especially while nervously fiddling in the wire at the end of the runout, all too aware of the long stretch of rope below me.

Once past the runout it's just a matter of unleashing every bit of power in your fingers on the technical crux. You don't want to have to do that runout again! E10? Maybe just, because of that runout. It's certainly easier than To Hell and Back, but maybe a slightly bigger undertaking than Achemine."

To Hell and Back is a route first climbed by MacLeod and graded E10. It is currently unrepeated. Achemine is another of Dave's routes, graded E9 and is also unrepeated.

Speaking to UKC via email, Dave commented further on his ascent:

"I think I had three tries and then led it. Seemed like hard F8a+ or maybe into F8b. It certainly felt nearer F8b to lead. I was certainly holding on quite hard on that runout. I think you'd hit the ground if you slipped on the last few moves up to the wire. It's a top quality route for sure. Definitely one of the best, the most easily accessible and softest E10 anywhere. I'm sure it'll get a lot of ascents by the folk who are capable. Tim did a great job to get the first ascent since it was right at his physical limit. I can't believe noone had gone for it before!

It was really nice to go around repeating routes in Wales this summer even though I only got a few done. It makes such a change from spending days cleaning new routes and waiting a long time for good weather."

Dave commented on his ascent of The Brothers Karamazov on his blog:

"...by the time conditions were right and we were ready, the sun was low in the sky, the waves were getting closer and there was time for only one lead. So we drew straws. I won and Tim graciously let me go for a good scrap on the wall, struggling at first with warm slippy slopers on the crux, and then rope drag just where I didn't need it on the upper E7 half. But just after sunset, I topped out with a big pitch behind me and a big smile..."